The Cypriot government decided on Wednesday to appoint Panikkos Vakkou as the new Vice-Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Vakkou joined the seven-member executive board of the market watchdog earlier this year.

The Council of Ministers also appointed a new member to the CySEC, Neophytos Lambertidis.

Reshuffling in the CySEC Executive Team

CySEC, the Cypriot financial market regulator, is supervised by a seven-member Board, including a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman. George Tehocharides has been serving as the head since September 2021.

Until now, Giorgos Karatzias held the position of Vice-Chairman. However, he was appointed an Executive Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Cyprus. Due to the resulting vacancy, Vakkou, who officially joined CySEC on January 19, 2024, is replacing him.

In addition to serving on the CySEC board, Vakkou is also the Director of Operations and Credit Risk Manager at Haogen Technologies and a CFA charterholder. In the past, he was the director of RiskMatrix and a regional partner at Moody's Analytics for six years.

Earlier in his career, he gained experience in the financial markets within the banking sector. He worked as a Restructuring Officer at the Cooperative Central Bank for two years.

Lambertides, a Professor in Finance in the Department of Commerce, Finance and Shipping at the Cyprus University of Technology, has been appointed to complete the seven-member Board following Karatzias' departure to the Central Bank of Cyprus. Since the beginning of his career, Lambertides has been associated with the academic community.